Results
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£29.50Eden (Score Only)
This work was commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust as the test piece for the final of the 2005 Besson National Brass Band Championship, held at the Royal Albert Hall, London.The score is prefaced by the final lines from Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (completed in 1663), in which Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise, make their uncertain way into the outside world:"...The world was all before them, where to chooseTheir place of rest, and providence their guide:They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow,Through Eden took their solitary way."My work is in three linked sections. In the first, the characters of Adam, Eve and the serpent guarding the Tree of Knowledge are respectively represented by solo euphonium, cornet and trombone. The music opens in an idyllic and tranquil mood and leads into a duet between euphonium and cornet. Throughout this passage the prevailing mood darkens, though the soloists seem to remain oblivious to the increasingly fraught atmosphere. A whip-crack announces the malevolent appearance of the solo trombone who proceeds to engage the solo cornet in a sinister dialogue.The second section interprets the Eden story as a modern metaphor for the havoc mankind has inflicted upon the world, exploiting and abusing its resources in the pursuit of wealth. Though certainly intended here as a comment on the present-day, it is by no means a new idea: Milton himself had an almost prescient awareness of it in Book I of his poem, where men, led on by Mammon:"...Ransacked the centre and with impious handsRifled the bowels of their mother earthFor treasures better hid. Soon had his crewOpened into the hill a spacious woundAnd digged out ribs of gold."So this section is fast and violent, at times almost manic in its destructive energy. At length a furious climax subsides and a tolling bell ushers in the third and final section.This final part is slow, beginning with an intense lament featuring solos for tenor-horn, flgel-horn and repiano cornet and joined later by solo baritone, soprano cornet, Eb-bass and Bb-bass.At one stage in the planning of the work it seemed likely that the music would end here - in despair. Then, mid-way through writing it, I visited the extraordinary Eden Project in Cornwall. Here, in a disused quarry - a huge man-made wound in the earth - immense biomes, containing an abundance of plant species from every region of the globe, together with an inspirational education programme, perhaps offer a small ray of hope for the future. This is the image behind the work's conclusion and the optimism it aims to express is real enough, though it is hard-won and challenged to the last.John Pickard 2005
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£29.95
The Land of the Long White Cloud (Score Only)
Dating from 1979, The Land of the Long White Cloud (Aotearoa) was Philip Sparke's first test-piece. It was commissioned by the New Zealand Brass Band Association for their 1980 National Championships (their centenary year) and set for the European Brass Band Championships, the same year, at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Aotearoa was the name given to New Zealand by its Polynesian settlers whose first sight of the islands was a long, flat cloud lying low over the land. The work has no specific programme although many have seen pictures of the surging ocean in the opening bars. A faster dance-like section leads to a slow, haunting solo for soprano cornet; this is taken up by the whole band before earlier material returns. The dance-like tune is, this time, given a fugal treatment and the opening bars return to close the work.Philip Sparke was born in London and studied composition, trumpet and piano at the Royal College of Music, where he gained an ARCM. It was at the College that his interest in bands arose. He played in the College wind orchestra and also formed a brass band among the students, writing several works for both ensembles.At that time, his first published works appeared - Concert Prelude (brass band) and Gaudium (wind band). A growing interest in his music led to several commissions, his first major one being this featured piece for the Centennial Brass Band Championships in New Zealand - The Land of the Long White Cloud. He has written for brass band championships in New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and the UK, including three times for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall.In September 2000, he was awarded the Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to brass bands and in 2005 Music of the Spheres won the National Band Association/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. In 2011, he received the BUMA International Brass Award for his contribution to brass music.His conducting and adjudicating activities have taken him to most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada and the USA. In May 2000, he took the major step of becoming a full-time composer by founding his own publishing company, Anglo Music Press. The company is devoted to publishing his brass band, concert band, fanfare band and instrumental publications as well as recordings dedicated to his latest works.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£60.99The Turtle Dove - Etienne Crausaz
The Turtle Dove is without a doubt one of the most well-known British folk songs, right up there with the likes of Greensleeves or Drink to Me Only. The Turtle Dove has been skillfully arranged for concert band by Swisscomposer and arranger Etienne Crausaz, carefully keeping the mood and intimacy of the original melody.
Estimated dispatch 5-14 working days
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£23.99Friendly Takeover (Brass Band - Score only) - Waespi, Oliver
Friendly Takeover was composed for the 2016 Swiss Wind Band Convention in Montreux.In this three movement piece the composer experiments with lyrical motives combined with rhythmical pulses in different meters throughout the piece. In the finale, the musical scene is taken over completely by groove-based rhythms. This takeover, however, is of a friendly nature, as the various beats are not being conceived as rivals of the lyrical motives, but are rather supposed to infuse energy and vitality to the latter. Thus, one gets the impression of an ongoing acceleration throughout the piece.Duration: 9.30
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£37.50Fraternity (Brass Band - Score only) - Deleruyelle, Thierry
This piece by Thierry Deleruyelle is based on one of the most significant events in the history of coal mining; the catastrophe at Courrieres, Northern France. It took place on 10th March 1906 and is considered the most momentous mining accident in Europe and the second most significant in the world. This work is both emotional and spectacular and tells in 7 contrasting sections the catastrophe that occurred. Fraternity was the test piece in the "Champion" category at the European Brass Band Competition 2016 in Lille, thus commemorating 110 years since the disaster at Courrieres.Duration: 15:40
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£34.95Dance Music (Brass Band - Score only) - Downie, Kenneth
This music takes the form of a suite in four movements. The ever-changing spirit of the dance is reflected in the contrasting styles of each movement, ranging from the gentle lullaby to more boisterous and lively moods. Careful listeners will identify references to dance-associated tunes in each movement, concluding with the Christmas carol, 'Tomorrow shall be my dancing day'. The music is planned to be versatile and any one movement could be performed as a stand-alone item if required.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£14.95
They Shall Come From The East (Brass Band - Score only) - Larsson, Kevin
One of the most well-known songs from the Gowans and Larsson musical, 'The Blood of the Lamb' is given an 'African' treatment which builds to a majestic climax emphasising the words; 'From every tribe and every race, all men as brothers shall embrace; they shall come from the east, they shall come from the west, and sit down in the Kingdom of God'.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£22.50
Tunesmith Overture (Brass Band - Score only) - Bulla, Stephen
The definition of a tunesmith is a person who composes popular music or songs. Howard Davies is such a person, having written dozens of songs (words AND music) for The Salvation Army. This overture takes a handful of his most popular melodies and turns them into a captivating Broadway-style medley which includes the light and witty 'God's Still the One' and 'The Good Lord Brought Him Through' as well as the devotional favourite, 'The Wonder of His Grace'.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£17.50
Steadily Onward (Brass Band - Score only) - Leidzen, Erik
Steadily Onward stands as the last in a series of festival marches which began with Pressing Onward in the 1920s and continued with the less well-known Fling Wide the Gates in the 1930s. The third strain, the bass solo, features Leidzen's own song 'Onward' while the trio contains one of his most infectious, lilting melodies.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£42.50A Tale as Yet Untold (Brass Band - Score only) - Sparke, Philip
2013 Butlins Championship Section.A Tale as Yet Untold was commissioned by the Cory Band for the European Brass Band Championships in Linz, Austria, 2010, and their winning performance gave them a hattrick of victories at the competition. The theme of this impressive work, which is set in three movements, is one that recurs again and again throughout the music of Philip Sparke, the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity and how the beauty of music can help in this respect.Duration 14:00
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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